Prop 19 goes up in smoke

Prop. 19 would not directly affect medicinal marijuana, like the sample shown here from Northern California Natural Collective, a San Jose dispensary.

After gaining a wide lead last month, Proposition 19 was defeated today by handy margin. Early tallies showed the proposition losing by a 12-point margin, with 44 percent in favor and 56 percent opposed with 18 percent of precincts reporting. Prop. 19 would have made California the first state to legalize the possession and sale of up to one ounce of marijuana.

By rejecting the initiative, California voters avoided a potential head-on collision with federal law. Marijuana remains illegal on a federal level, and Obama’s administration vowed not to give precedence to Prop. 19. Last month, the Associated Press obtained a copy of a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder to former federal drug enforcement chiefs, in which he stated that the government would “vigorously enforce” federal laws against marijuana regardless of whether Prop. 19 passed or not.

Roger Salazar, a spokesman for the No on 19 campaign, pointed to this legal dissonance as a serious flaw in the proposition. Read More >>